Employment law and civil litigation representation in Denver, Colorado

Age discrimination in Colorado: what are your rights?

If you’re someone who has worked in their field for a few decades, chances are you’ve felt at least a twinge of mistreatment because of your advancing age. Age discrimination is a problem nationwide, and it hurts some of the best trained and most experienced people in the job market.

Colorado Public Radio reported that people as young as their 40s are being turned away from jobs with frightening frequency. Scott Croushore, a Denver based technology consultant, has found he needs to send over four times the number of resumes he used to. It wasn’t until he removed 13 of his 23 years of experience from his resume that he began to get responses.

What are you to do when you’re consistently turned down for jobs you know you’re qualified for but are glossed over because of your age? Do you have any options at your disposal? Why are your years of experience considered a liability?

Age discrimination comes in different forms

Being treated unfairly solely because of your age is a discriminatory action. Being rejected for a new position, promotion, training or medical benefits because of how old you are is tantamount to being discriminated against because of your ethnicity, gender or creed.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) specifically forbids this kind of discrimination against anyone who is 40 years old or older. If you have been harassed with offensive or derogatory remarks or not given the same treatment as an employee on the grounds of your age, then your employer may have been violating the law.

It’s important to fight to protect your rights as a worker. If you are considering taking your discrimination case to court, act as soon as possible – in the state of Colorado, you only have six months to file your charge.

Navigating legal issues with employers can be a very thorny subject. You may not fully know your rights, or how an employer may react to you retaliating to their discriminatory actions. That is when it’s important to remember that the law is on your side. You have rights as a worker; you don’t have to hide the expertise you’ve gained over your years of experience.